Migration in Theological Thought and Pastoral Action

Migration in Theological Thought and Pastoral Action

FOCUS

Urbaniana University Journal 3/2022

In a historical excursus about mission, Swiss theologian Walbert Bühlmann speaks of a Third Church as a new stage in which the Christian community finds itself and a “new migration of the people of God”. He recalls how in the first millennium the community and theological-pastoral reflection were largely influenced by the eastern churches (first church) and subsequently in the second millennium the gravitational center shifted to the west (second church). The third millennium is characterized by polycentrism and particularly with the flourishing of cultures and populations that for various historical or political reasons had remained on the margins of global policies like many countries of the African or Asian continent. The Third Church thus characterizes the de facto transition of Christianity as a truly global religion, forced to confront countless unprecedented situations.

One cannot fail to read by analogy in this vision what the Christian community is experiencing in this epochal change marked by globalization and human mobility. The novelty and pervasiveness of the current phenomenon of migration entail a series of dynamics also within the Christian communities that are unprecedented and provoke what we can define, following the title of a famous work by Rahner, the structural transformation of the church as a task and as a chance.

Firstly, as a task, since migrants and their families are now an integral part of the civil and religious face of many communities and the interactions are increasingly modifying their physiognomy. Addressing migration issues and related dynamics, initiating theological reflection, and proposing consequent pastoral actions attentive to this new multicultural and multireligious social configuration is no longer optional but the greatest current pastoral challenge. As Pope Francis continuously reminds us, starting from that first trip to Lampedusa in 2013, today a reflection and action is needed to awaken consciences from the drift of the “globalization of indifference” in the face of the immense and often tragic phenomenon of migration.

The approach, however, seems to be still heavily influenced by a vision of emergency. This year’s message for the GMMR3, introducing the preposition “with,” poses a challenge and at the same time a vision. A challenge because it moves to broaden the horizon of education and action in the face of the phenomenon of migration which is often marked by fear, crisis, sensationalism, and the instrumentalization of migrating people for social, economic, and political purposes. This ideologized vision continually traps people in the process of migration within certain reductive and stereotyped categories like that of the poor, the needy who must be helped, or the useful who must be tolerated. Social, economic, and political realities and communication, cultures, institutions, and even religions thus become the ground for conflict, exclusion, or indifference towards the other. Besides being a challenge, the preposition “with” also introduces a vision that, arising from a biblical-theological basis, seeks to read and respond positively to the dynamics of migration defined as a “sign of the times.” The phenomenon of human mobility as a historical reality with all its manifestations of injustice and suffering becomes the place where the history of salvation is incarnated as a path of hope and as an opportunity to live universal fraternity.

Moving from a paradigm of socio-pastoral action to one with migrants, refugees, displaced persons, mariners, peoples, and communities in mobility, does not simply imply a shift in focus, but a different anthropological and phenomenological vision of migration and the people involved, as well as the concrete action that follows. It is firstly about highlighting not only what actions are to be taken on behalf of migrants, refugees, displaced persons, and people in mobility, but especially what future we want to build with them today. The paradigmatic shift also urged by the magisterium of Pope Francis has led to reflection on the roles of the church and pastoral action in a phenomenon that continues to characterize our present society.

The contributions offered by the authors in this focus are a way to thoroughly address the complexity and the various facets of the issues raised by the phenomenon of migration. In the article by Zanfrini, it is acutely noted how migration is a kind of “mirror” where, beyond the phenomenological issues, one can also grasp the ethical implications and responsibilities of concrete choices made in social and pastoral actions. Migrants “provoke” self-reflection and analysis and often reveal the failures of participatory structures but they also reveal the opportunities that can be created. Baggio, in his contribution, emphasizes the link between migration and the history of the Catholic Church, which can be read in two different hermeneutical keys: a pastoral and a missiological one. In this contribution, the author focuses on the missiological perspective, reflecting on some moments in the history of the Church in the first century A.D., read in the light of the narratives contained in the Acts of the Apostles, thus analyzing some central themes such as the itinerant and pilgrim identity of the Church, catholicity as communion in diversity, and universal citizenship. Bevans‘article offers a courageous and challenging insight into the concept of evangelization and the migratory experience, recalling some important documents such as Evangelii Nuntiandi and Together Towards Life. Migrants “have much to teach us” thanks to their lives and experiences often characterized by pain but also by hope, just as the Church and society have “much to learn” from them. The migratory experience becomes an authentic source of living out theology and is a stimulus to address in an original way the discourse on God, the Church, Christian anthropology, and the social structures of sin. Terragni’s article presents the multifaceted figure of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, recently canonized by Pope Francis, as the emblem of the social and pastoral solicitation of the Church towards the phenomenon of migration and its implications. Scalabrini promotes in his thought and action a church that is open, inclusive, welcoming, and close to people, capable of renewing itself and uniting missionary work, evangelization, and human promotion, proclaiming God’s plan hidden in migration. In their article, Varisco and Skoda recount the experience of seminarians, deacons, and young priests with a migratory background, personal or familial. This experience highlights how society and the Church are complex and continuously evolving realities, shaped by the phenomenon of mobility. The increasingly significant presence in the clergy of people with migratory backgrounds or experiences generates a new reality that is already showing itself, and will reveal even more in the coming years.

The phenomenon of migration prompts the Christian community in its dimension of catholicity since the Church from its beginning has been configured as a community of people, immediately showing the missionary power of the Gospel in embracing every person and every culture. At the same time, however, catholicity needs to be transformed into a concrete attitude and action of openness and continuous dialogue. The Church is essentially communion (koinonía). It represents the horizon of meaning and the most genuine core of the theological reflection stemming from the Council. Its value as a distinctive feature of the Church and of relationships both within and beyond becomes a platform to better understand the intercultural relationships that are shaped precisely due to human mobility.

Translated by Gabriel Biondo, intern at SIMI